Monthly Archives: June 2012

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Are you all set for the 4th?…Next week we will be at the beach for the holiday so I’ve been packing and getting ready. Yay!! Can’t wait to get out of this crazy hot summer weather in Phoenix that one really ever gets “used to”!

I made some of these embellished flip flops for my daughter and I to wear. I saw a pair at a local kids boutique and thought they looked easy to make…and they were!!

It’s just fabric strips and ribbon cut and tied with a double knot…That’s it. No measuring. Simple and so cute!

I bought a $3 Old Navy top and had everything else already…love when that happens! I ironed on this red fabric with Wonder Under and then made a ruffle with a couple long pieces of fabric. I folded the fabric horizontal and then on the open ended side stitched all the way down. After you have a long enough ruffle, close off the stitch.

After that I sewed down my ruffle and then sewed green ric rac on top. Last came a few buttons..So easy. I know this can all be done with the machine, but I kinda like sitting down on the couch and relaxing doing this kinda thing 🙂

I’m so excited to be giving away a $43.00 gift certificate to catchingfireflies.com! This is such a fun store full of unique whimsical gifts. Catching Fireflies is a Michigan based gift shop that offers its one of a kind finds online.

Last weekend I spent time organizing our kitchen pantry. It was way overdue and needed some serious help! See?!

I started out by collecting rectangular baskets from Goodwill along with glass containers and air tight jars. I didn’t pay more than $1-2 per piece. This is my most important money saving tip! Canisters and containers can be very pricey. I found some pretty contact paper from TJ Maxx and a roll of chalkboard adhesive vinyl ($5 w/coupon) from Hobby Lobby. I cut my own labels.

These supplies along with canisters I already had helped me achieve some great results!

I also invested in some lazy susans from Bed Bath & Beyond. Using coupons I think I paid around $20 for both. (I stalked my GW for some with no luck, I’m sure the’ll be there next time now that I bought new ones though!) Ha.

All my kid snacks are together in baskets.

The bottom shelves have all the paper plates, silverware, & cups together and a basket neatly holds all my reusable bags. It’s amazing how much space you can save by taking food out of the boxes…

I used some left over contact paper and chalkboard vinyl to line the inside of the door and create a cute message center. If you look close you can see where we’ve measured the kids in pencil 🙂 I couldn’t erase that!

I think that paper might be a little busy but oh well if I get sick of it it’s easy to change. 🙂 Plus we are renting so painting isn’t an option. I see all these great painted pantries and love that look.

Thanks for visiting my pantry! So what do you think? Can we keep it this way? My husband is impressed but still asks when we are doing our closet…ugh..Just doesn’t sound as fun!

After last week when we unknowingly painted hand prints on $43.00 Narumi bone china plates from Goodwill (.80 I paid), I decided to go back and see if they had any more left.

There were quite a few random pieces of china with Steelite brand sample stickers and a gentleman’s business card. I’ve never heard of this line but loved that it’s modern and white. I later learned its from the U.K.

I loved this cute textured creamer and sugar dish and checked online to see that it’s about a $70 set. I paid $5 (Sad to say I dropped and shattered the creamer after this pic :(…Ugh hate that!)

I loved this shape of these cool 8 & 11 inch dishes also Steelite china. I think they were 2$, and they’ll be great for serving!

I found another Narumi 12 inch plate also. It’s on the bottom.

Here’s a couple of vintage finds.

Maybe I’ll make another plate stand. This one is my fav! (Thrift store plates and candlesticks stacked and glued with E6000.)

So the other day I had it in my head I wanted to make a handprint & footprint plate for my hubby for Father’s Day. I walked into one of those pottery painting places in the strip mall, and walked right back out. I had some serious sticker shock…kinda pricey. So I found two large white plates at Goodwill and thought we could try to make our own. ( Not that I know anything about painting art, ha!).

The funny part of these plates is that after we were done I looked at the back of them and they are Narumi Bone China 12 inch plates that retail for $43.00 online! What? I paid .80 each at GW! And now of course they are priceless art pieces! Ha

We painted with enamel ceramic paint from Hobby Lobby. This is purely decorative and will not be eaten off of.

So remember that one time at SNAP I made a cool flower arrangement?! Ha I never really did a SNAP conference post so here’s a super short version and I’m showing you how I made a cute and EASY flower arrangement at the awesome class taught by Megan from Persimmon Floral Design. This was actually one of the most fun sessions I went to!

SNAP was a super fun and exciting creative blogging conference I was able to attend in April. It was held at a beautiful spot near Salt Lake City, Utah called Thanksgiving Point. I had a fabulous time learning about topics such as stenciling, social media, Photoshop, branding, finding your style, party planning, and flower arranging!

I had a blast mingling with some fab bloggers that I love. How fun to meet someone in person that you follow online!

There was also some excellent shopping at the Queen Bee Market. This is the coolest handmade market EVER! I was in heaven. And that chevron elephant was a perfect gift for my daughter!

OK now back to the flowers…

We each got a pile of flowers and a square glass vase to work with. The most important tips I came away with were to 1.) Make a grid on the top of vase with floral tape, and 2.) Separate like flowers and group them together.

I folded the long grass and tied with floral wire to create this loop. So here I grouped the similar flowers together and then made the front shorter than the back .

I was lucky enough to attend a fun stencil class while at SNAP the conference taught by Melanie from Royal Designs Studio. They were nice enough to give me this beautiful Moorish Endless Circle stencil. I had been unsuccessful at stenciling before, so I was super excited to actually see someone demonstrate it beautifully! I learned some important tips that I’ll share with you all today…

The colors and inspiration for this project came from our latest family picture. I wanted to create a big custom frame and thought this was an excellent excuse to test out my new stencil! 🙂 I found a piece of scrap MDF wood and had my husband cut it to a 20x20inch square. After painting the wood white and stenciling it with royal blue acrylic paint, I painted a $5 frame yellow from Hobby Lobby and glued it on with e6000 glue. .

Here’s some important info on the stenciling part.

I bought a cheap round shape stencil brush from Hobby Lobby and the bristles came out a lot causing some streaks and mistakes. I will purchase a nice brush for next time!

I squeezed some paint on the paper plate and then brushed off alot of paint on a Bounty paper towel using a circular motion. She specifically says to use a high quality towel. Then tape your stencil down with painters tape, and use a light circular motion to paint the stencil. Bleeding is caused from using too much paint. So use a little!

Here’s the best part of this stencil…

It has dots to help you line up for the next round! So easy!…And I LOOOOVE the result.

Here’s my finished project and how it looks styled when you walk in my house!

I wanted a summer nautical look so I shopped my house and borrowed a few things from my son’s surfer room.

I found this cute jute covered vase at Goodwill last week for .99!

One shell is from HomeGoods and one from Goodwill.

This small frame (Target) fit into the anchor (Goodwill) perfectly!

I found these neat Tommy Bahama Home burlap place mats $2.99 each at HomeGoods and lined them up like a runner…

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